Dimitris Antoniou | Columbia University (original) (raw)

Papers by Dimitris Antoniou

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2016

On July 31, 1829, the participants of the Fourth National Assembly voted to construct the Church ... more On July 31, 1829, the participants of the Fourth National Assembly voted to construct the Church of the Savior to express gratitude for Greek liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Research to date suggests that this initiative was revisited in the 1960s by church officials who engaged in an imaginative reading of the historical record to present this phantasmatic edifice as an unfulfilled national vow. Despite the project's long and complicated history, the endeavor is largely remembered as a kitsch project of the military regime of 21 April 1967. Why is this the case? How are the stories of our past produced, and what kinds of analytics are utilized to create public narratives? Taking a story of spatial absence as a point of departure, I combine archival material and ethnographic research to consider how silence and the encounter with the unthinkable have shaped public history in Greece.

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2017

Why does drawing a comparison between Ioannis Metaxas’s interwar dic- tatorship and the military ... more Why does drawing a comparison between Ioannis Metaxas’s interwar dic- tatorship and the military junta of 1967 appear so obvious nowadays? And how does this comparison contribute to the frequent designation of the latter as fascist? In this article, we examine the belief that the two regimes shared a common fascist ideology as a conceptual monument of the antidictatorial struggle with a profound impact on subsequent historical production. We then ask how the junta itself viewed its relation to Metaxas. By examining several statues of the interwar dictator erected during the junta’s rule, we identify internal contradictions and continuous power struggles within the regime’s leadership that complicate the comparison with Metaxas, as well as contemporary understandings of Greece’s dictatorial past.

Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Archive Crisis: Shaking Up the Shelves of History. Heyningen: JAP SAM Books., 2015

This book is a visual essay based on a series of previously unpublished images from Greek (media)... more This book is a visual essay based on a series of previously unpublished images from Greek (media) archives collected by visual artist Stefanos Tsivopoulos. The book explores the mechanisms of visual culture in a mediatized democracy, and their effect on the production of collective memory. Tsivopoulos' multi-layered visual essay - which builds the main body of this book - not only reveals the patterns, idiosyncrasies, textures, and tactility of these images but ultimately inquires the extent to which photographic, archival documents provide us with knowledge. The book's fascinating image material is of a diverse nature and is intrinsically linked to a broader European and global context such as the Cold War, Greek-US relationships, and more recent crisis. Essays from authors provide academic reflection and link these historical images to a broader contemporary context.

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2014

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2017

Book Reviews by Dimitris Antoniou

History: Reviews of New Books, 2023

Books by Dimitris Antoniou

Why Not Build the Mosque? explores the Greek state’s two-century-long attempt to build a central ... more Why Not Build the Mosque? explores the Greek state’s two-century-long attempt to build a central mosque, culminating in the project’s realization during the recent economic crisis. Focusing on an effort in the early 2000s to build a mosque in a suburb of Athens, Dimitris Antoniou inquires into widespread beliefs concerning local reactions, the Orthodox Church’s stance, and politicians’ concern with “political cost.” As his ethnographic research moves from underground mosques and Muslim associations to polling companies, politicians’ offices, and media corporations, he reveals how building a mosque is more than a matter of religion or nationalism alone. The story of the central mosque in Athens demonstrates the productivity of unrealized plans by laying bare the logic and interests at work behind what might first appear as an obvious case of failure. Ultimately, Why Not Build the Mosque? sheds light on what it takes for things to happen in contemporary democracies when governments and multinational corporations try to respond to the will of the people.

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2016

On July 31, 1829, the participants of the Fourth National Assembly voted to construct the Church ... more On July 31, 1829, the participants of the Fourth National Assembly voted to construct the Church of the Savior to express gratitude for Greek liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Research to date suggests that this initiative was revisited in the 1960s by church officials who engaged in an imaginative reading of the historical record to present this phantasmatic edifice as an unfulfilled national vow. Despite the project's long and complicated history, the endeavor is largely remembered as a kitsch project of the military regime of 21 April 1967. Why is this the case? How are the stories of our past produced, and what kinds of analytics are utilized to create public narratives? Taking a story of spatial absence as a point of departure, I combine archival material and ethnographic research to consider how silence and the encounter with the unthinkable have shaped public history in Greece.

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2017

Why does drawing a comparison between Ioannis Metaxas’s interwar dic- tatorship and the military ... more Why does drawing a comparison between Ioannis Metaxas’s interwar dic- tatorship and the military junta of 1967 appear so obvious nowadays? And how does this comparison contribute to the frequent designation of the latter as fascist? In this article, we examine the belief that the two regimes shared a common fascist ideology as a conceptual monument of the antidictatorial struggle with a profound impact on subsequent historical production. We then ask how the junta itself viewed its relation to Metaxas. By examining several statues of the interwar dictator erected during the junta’s rule, we identify internal contradictions and continuous power struggles within the regime’s leadership that complicate the comparison with Metaxas, as well as contemporary understandings of Greece’s dictatorial past.

Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Archive Crisis: Shaking Up the Shelves of History. Heyningen: JAP SAM Books., 2015

This book is a visual essay based on a series of previously unpublished images from Greek (media)... more This book is a visual essay based on a series of previously unpublished images from Greek (media) archives collected by visual artist Stefanos Tsivopoulos. The book explores the mechanisms of visual culture in a mediatized democracy, and their effect on the production of collective memory. Tsivopoulos' multi-layered visual essay - which builds the main body of this book - not only reveals the patterns, idiosyncrasies, textures, and tactility of these images but ultimately inquires the extent to which photographic, archival documents provide us with knowledge. The book's fascinating image material is of a diverse nature and is intrinsically linked to a broader European and global context such as the Cold War, Greek-US relationships, and more recent crisis. Essays from authors provide academic reflection and link these historical images to a broader contemporary context.

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2014

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2017

Why Not Build the Mosque? explores the Greek state’s two-century-long attempt to build a central ... more Why Not Build the Mosque? explores the Greek state’s two-century-long attempt to build a central mosque, culminating in the project’s realization during the recent economic crisis. Focusing on an effort in the early 2000s to build a mosque in a suburb of Athens, Dimitris Antoniou inquires into widespread beliefs concerning local reactions, the Orthodox Church’s stance, and politicians’ concern with “political cost.” As his ethnographic research moves from underground mosques and Muslim associations to polling companies, politicians’ offices, and media corporations, he reveals how building a mosque is more than a matter of religion or nationalism alone. The story of the central mosque in Athens demonstrates the productivity of unrealized plans by laying bare the logic and interests at work behind what might first appear as an obvious case of failure. Ultimately, Why Not Build the Mosque? sheds light on what it takes for things to happen in contemporary democracies when governments and multinational corporations try to respond to the will of the people.